(MURRAY, Ky.) – Murray State Women’s Basketball Head Coach Rechelle Turner has been selected for the 2026 Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Watch List, recognizing her as one of the top coaches in mid-major women’s college basketball.
Turner, a former Lady Marshal who was a collegiate double-sport athlete at MSU (Basketball, Golf) later spent 21 seasons as head coach at Murray High School, is entering her ninth season leading the MSU women’s basketball program. She comes off a historic 2024-25 campaign in which the Racers captured both the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament championships, earning a berth in the NCAA Tournament – the program’s first since 2008.
The championship season saw Turner’s squad set a school record with 25 wins, surpassing her own previous career wins mark at Murray State.
Award Details
The Kathy Delaney-Smith Award honors the top mid-major coach in women’s college basketball. To be eligible, coaches must compete in one of 26 designated mid-major conferences. The ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, and SEC are considered high-major conferences and are excluded from consideration. Oregon State and Washington State also remain ineligible this season as Pac-12 Conference membership transitions continue.
Her Hoop Stats, which administers the award, will announce a 10-person midseason watch list in January, followed by five finalists in March. The winner will be revealed around the Final Four.
Selection criteria include on-court performance throughout the entire season, including postseason play, as well as recruiting success, preseason expectations, injury management, and tactical coaching prowess.
Honoring a Trailblazer
The award is named for Kathy Delaney-Smith, who compiled a 630-434 record (.592) over 40 years at Harvard, including a dominant 367-168 mark (.685) in Ivy League play. Her 630 career victories rank 32nd in Division I history.
Delaney-Smith guided Harvard to six NCAA Tournament appearances and nine WNIT berths, while coaching nine Ivy League Players of the Year and all 22 of the program’s 1,000-point scorers in Division I history.
A Massachusetts native, Delaney-Smith made history as the first woman inducted into the Massachusetts Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1986, with more than three decades of her coaching career still ahead. She was also inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003.
As a high school coach at Westwood High School, Delaney-Smith posted a 204-31 record over 11 seasons, including a remarkable 96-game winning streak.
The watch list announcement was made by Her Hoop Stats, an independent media organization founded in 2017 that provides comprehensive coverage and analysis of women’s basketball at all levels.
Assistant Coach Monica Evans (left), has coached with Turner for all but one of her seasons both at Murray High School and Murray State with Rechelle Turner holding the 2025 MVC Trophy. Photo: David Eaton/Murray State Athletics
